John Straka

Classroom

Straka has a 3.894 cumulative GPA including five straight semesters of 4.0 marks. He has made the Dean’s List seven times and is an NDSU Presidential Scholar. He is a two-time Summit League All-Academic Team and Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence honoree.

Character

A four-year team captain, John exemplifies what it means to be a student-athlete. His work ethic and positive attitude were key in coming back to full strength from Tommy John surgery that kept him out of the 2010 season, and his leadership among teammates has helped the Bison progress from a 16-win team his freshman year to a school-record 40 wins last year.

Community

Straka is serving as president in his fourth year of service on the NDSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He’s a member of the NDSU President’s Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, and serves on the Presidents’ Panel, a committee representing NDSU’s major student organizations. His community work includes the Fargo-Moorhead Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization (HERO), Salvation Army bell ringing, Stocking Stuffers holiday shopping with underprivileged children at Walmart, TNT Kid’s Fitness & Gymnastics activity nights, sandbagging during the Fargo-Moorhead spring flood of 2009, organizing and running games for the NDSU SAAC’s annual Kids Halloween Party, managing the SAAC’s coat check service for NDSU basketball games, and the Frontier Community Service Baseball World Series in Kenai, Alaska, where he organized and coached developmentally disabled individuals for a day of baseball and other activities.

Competition

John was an All-Summit League second team starting pitcher as a true freshman in 2009 when he led the Bison in wins (4-3), ERA (3.49), strikeouts (54), innings pitched (59 1/3) and complete games (4) as the team’s No. 3 weekend starter. After missing 2010 due to injury and coming back for the last half of 2011, he was an All-Summit League first team pick in 2012 with a 7-4 record, 2.61 ERA. He set four school records last year with 15 starts, 92 strikeouts, 110 1/3 innings and three shutouts. John has a 14-9 career record with a 3.03 ERA in 29 starts and 34 appearances. He has 163 strikeouts and only 37 walks and ranks second in NDSU history for fewest walks per nine innings (1.63). He was an All-Star in the Northwoods League in 2011 and the Alaska Baseball League in 2012.